Heretofore, a number of approaches have been taken to making fabrics both cleanable and liquid resistant so as to be more useful in environments where liquid staining is likely to occur. Vinyl coated fabrics have been most broadly accepted for these purposes due to relatively easy cleanability and fairly low cost. These fabrics are generally manufactured by applying a coating of vinyl to an open scrim-type fabric, with the vinyl surface forming the outer or user-contacting surface. However, such vinyl coated fabrics are typically rather stiff to the touch and thereby lack the desired appearance and feel for use in environments such as automobiles, restaurants, nursing homes, and the like where pleasing tactile and visual perceptions by the user are considered important. Furthermore, the vinyl can tend to be uncomfortable against a user""s skin, and since it forms a continuous, non-breathable surface, it can cause the build up of perspiration between the wearer and a seat. In addition, the vinyl surface can get extremely hot, and can be uncomfortable or even painful to sit on in some circumstances.
Surface laminated fabrics have been utilized to enhance the aesthetic characteristics of the fabrics, but due to the generally disjunctive adherence between the laminate film and the fabric itself, these products tend to peel, crack, and delaminate after long periods of use. Such laminated products also tend to lack the generally desirable feel of standard upholstery products. Additionally, adherence of a liquid barrier film or coating to a fabric substrate is made all the more difficult when fluorochemical stain-resist treatments are applied, since such compositions by their nature tend to repel an applied coating.
While overcoming many of the disadvantages of the prior art materials described above, it has been found that the fabrics produced by the current methods may be less flexible and pliable than what would be optimal for some end use applications, and in particular, those applications such as intricately-shaped transportation vehicle seating configurations or the like. (While discussed in some respects above as relating to automobiles and trucks, as used herein, the term xe2x80x9ctransportation vehicle seatingxe2x80x9d is intending to encompass seating or other surface areas of all types of vehicles, including but not limited to boats, airplanes, helicopters, bicycles and motorbikes, trains, machinery such as tractors, bulldozers, and the like.)
One method that had been developed to achieve fabrics having a number of the above-identified desirable characteristics is described in commonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/864,461 to DeMott et al, filed May 23, 2001, which is a continuation-in-part of a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/625,474 filed Jul. 25, 2000, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/286,797 which was filed on Apr. 6, 1999, and issued on Oct. 24, 2000 to Kimbrell, Jr. et al as U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,730 which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/799,790, which was filed on Feb. 12, 1997 and issued on May 4, 1999 to Kimbrell, Jr. et al as U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,783. These references are incorporated herein their entireties by specific reference thereto.
However, there remains a need for fabrics that are both cleanable and liquid resistant, have good fire resistance characteristics to enable them to be used in applications such as transportation vehicles, and which have good aesthetic charactistics, including good flexibility.
In light of the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a fabric which can be used in transportation vehicles, which has pleasing aesthetics of the variety desired for family type transportation vehicles in combination with the durability and soil and water resistance generally desired for the traditional sporty utility vehicle, and also desirably has flame resistance and UV fading resistance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fabric which possesses both stain resist and fluid barrier properties but which also exhibits good drape characteristics as in traditional untreated upholstery fabrics, where a good drape is understood to mean flexibility and/or lack of stiffness of the fabric.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a method of making a fabric having the above-stated characteristics in an economical and efficient manner.
To this end, this invention provides a fabric having a unique combination of stain resistance and fluid barrier properties, while having drape characteristics more comparable to conventional untreated fabrics. In this way, the fabric is not only comfortable when used to form occupant support surfaces, but the fabric can also be used for applications such as intricately configured seating configurations. In addition, the fabric also desirably has high levels of UV fading resistance and flame resistance, and forms a good bond with conventional seating foam materials, such that the fabric is particularly useful in the manufacture of automotive seating.
Furthermore, the fabric is capable of receiving additional materials such as antistatic agents, antimicrobial agents, and the like to provide it with additional performance characteristics as desired. The fabric can be made by providing a textile fabric substrate that has been treated with a low surface energy stain resistance compound, and applying at least one layer of material, and preferably two or more layers, to the fabric substrate, with the layer(s) of material cooperating with the fabric substrate to provide a fabric having a bond strength of at least about 0.55 lbs/in2 when tested according to ASTM D751 (2001) and preferably about 1 lbs/in2 or greater, a hydrostatic pressure resistance of at least about 50 mb and more preferably at least about 100 mb, and a oil rating of about 3 or greater when tested according to AATCC Test Method 118-1997. Preferably, the fabric also has a burn rate of less than 4 inches and a xcex94E of about 4.0 or less at 225 kj, as determined by SAE J1885 MAR92 (evidencing its good UV fade resistance.)
In one embodiment of the method, a low surface energy stain resistance compound is provided on at least one surface of the fabric, and stabilization material such as an acrylic material is applied to the other of its surfaces. An adhesive material is applied to the stabilization material, with the adhesive material in turn serving to bond a barrier material to the structure. In an alternative embodiment, the stabilization layer is omitted, and an fire resistance additive can be included in the barrier material and/or the adhesive material to enable the fabric to achieve automotive industry flame standards.